晓光 (xiǎo guāng) — the light of early dawn; morning twilight

Definition

Literary word for the soft light of early dawn, just before sunrise. Common in poetry and prose rather than everyday speech.

noun

the light of early dawnmorning twilight

Easily confused

晓光，。
Qīng chén de xiǎo guāng sǎ zài hú miàn shàng, fēi cháng měi lì.
The morning light of dawn spreads over the lake, very beautiful.
晓光。
Tā xǐ huan zài xiǎo guāng zhōng sàn bù sī kǎo wèn tí.
He likes to walk and think in the morning twilight.
晓光。
xiǎo guāng Tòu guò chuāng lián zhào jìn fáng jiān.
The dawn light streams into the room through the curtains.

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

"晓" means dawn, and "光" means light, so it denotes early dawn light.

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 曉; 晓 is its simplified writing.

日堯曉

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

堯

堯yáo曉xiǎo

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 曉 puts 日, a sun, beside 堯, which gives the sound; the simplified 晓 is a shorthand and its right side is not that sound part.

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

The shape 光 places 火 (fire) above 卩 (a kneeling person), showing fire over the head and the shining of light.